Towne Theatre
Levittown Parkway,
Levittown,
PA
19053
Levittown Parkway,
Levittown,
PA
19053
4 people
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Showing 18 comments
Closed in late-January 1988.
does anyone remember the smaller marquee sign up on the roof facing the levittown parkway? it was positioned over the corner of the second screen in the back.
The ad posted by Mike Rivest shows the theater was reopening as a twin on November 27, 1974. The description should be changed to reflect this.
i went there to see house on the haunted hill 50s and lawrence of arabia i now produce my own spaghetti westerns more than a few dollars for johnny check ytube channel johnny9148 also the ritz in croydon were i saw the blob its sad to see these old theaters demolished also rt 1 drive in spend the night with clint eastwood lol
Anyone have anything to sell from the theatre? My dad was the manager for years and my mom worked the booth. It was my dad that rented the “Herbie the Love Bug” and put it out front. They also use to put on horror shows with people dressed as vampires etc. to scare you while you watched the film.
November 27th, 1974 reopening ad as a twin in the photo section.
anyone have any interior photos or any photos from when it was demolished?
does anyone have naything left of the theatre? I owuld be willing to purchase.
i loved going to the towne theater. i miss seeing the wizard of oz poster across from the snack bar. the towne theater was the only theater at the time to have vending machines in the lobby. i have been looking for photos and video if the theater, other than the 20 minute film “our home town” produced in 1954, which only shows the exterior of the theater. if anyone has any photos or old home movies of the towne theater, please let me know, i am in the process of writing a book based on movie theaters located in and around the levittown area. thanks.
Here is a March 1972 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/ybvscjl
The Towne Theatre was featured in this two-page spread in Boxoffice, July 3, 1954. One of the first theaters built after the introduction of CinemaScope, it boasted a screen 54 feet wide and 24 feet high. Built for independent operator Melvin J. Fox’s Fox Theatres Inc., the 1,036-seat house was designed by Philadelphia architect David Supowitz.
The only theatre in the heart of Levittown unless you had your parents drive you up to the huge Route 1 theatre. I remember the original Disney “Herbie the Lovebug” playing at the Towne. Out front they had a real Herbie VW on display on the sidewalk-so cool! Also remember trying to sneak in those big steel side doors. When they knocked it down I happened to be driving by. I bluffed my way on the job site and grabbed some of the stones that were part of the front facade. I gave them out to my siblings and kept one for myself. I now have my own Towne Theatre rock in my back yard garden. Good times!
Here is a November 1968 ad from the Bucks County Courier Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yovtw9
The Towne Theatre was my neighborhood movie house. It opened in the spring of 1954 with the film “The River of No Return” starring Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. I attended the first “kiddie” matinee the Saturday following it’s opening. The feature was an animated film, “Johnny the Giant Killer”, a grade Z dubbed film from France. Went there many times. It sat idol for quite some some before demolition in the late 90s. Thw whole Levittown Shopping Center is now a memory. So sad!
“The Godfather” premiered at the Towne Theater’s sister theater (also in Levittown, PA.). This theater was known as the Fox Theater. Both theaters were first-run theaters meaning compatible and competitive with Center City Philadelphia’s theaters in that they premiered film before they went wide in the neighborhood theaters (in Philadelphia). In one case, the Towne beat the Stanley Theater (owned by the mighty Stanley Warner theaters) in Philadelphia with the premiere of “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?” to the tune of three (3) weeks. It was advertised in the Philadelphia Bulletin and Inquirer in their A-B-C listings, and not with as much fanfare as one would imagine. That was incredible!! The Towne also opened with the Dean Martin (Matt Helm) movie “The Silencers” and the science fiction blockbuster “Fantastic Voyage” on the same day as their respective openings at the Fox Theater ( no connection with the Levittown theaters; it was owned and operated by
the Milgram brothers… i.e. Milgram theaters). By 1972, true first run presentations were spotty at best. Although, as a twin, they showed Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” in 1974. I only saw one film there and it was not first run and the sound system was less than satisfactory. The film was “Time Bandits” ( a 1981 film). The Fox Theater in Levittown’s Country Club Shopping Center (now known as Langhorne Square) was also amazing with a great first run history of its own. of their own. Both cinemas are no longer!
The Towne was demolished during the razing of the entire shopping center. Although not on the same side of the street as the Levittown Center, it was across the service road on the north/west side. It probably closed around 1988. I remember seeing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (4 of us in the audience). It had been twinned by that time.
I recall waiting in line to see “The Godfather” here in 1972 when it was a large, single screen venue. My guess is that it seated 1,300 as a single screen.
I will provide the approximate demolision date.
You’re good, my friend. Very good.
There is an advertisement for the Towne on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/mssna
This 1970’s pot film had its premiere at the Towne:
http://tinyurl.com/pjzqn